The Dream

If you could be doing anything

The Steam Plant in Eugene, Oregon

There is a coaching question that gets asked all the time. If you could be doing anything and you know it would succeed, what would you do?

I ask myself this question at least once a month (in a formal way).

The first answer is ‘exactly what you are doing right now’.. which is the fund that I am working on, which fills a huge gap in the innovation and finance ecosystem.

but, I often keep coming back to a crazy idea. It came up again this week, and it was probably ‘top of mind’ for me given all the discussions I have been having around ecosystem development.

I have probably read every book or paper on startups, incubators, economic development, venture capital, innovation, etc… So much so that I am still processing all of the information that has come into my head over the last 15 years. When talking to others, I often struggle to explain concepts in a simple way, as, thus far, there has been no simple explanation. The complexity of the task is daunting.

I know that I have had success both learning and teaching my kids through videos and documentaries. When they were very young, I bought the DVD version of Guns, Germs, and Steel, and was happy that they got something out of it. My son still likes to watch all the Cosmos shows, and I myself have not yet seen a series that tops the original Carl Sagan Cosmos series.

These documentaries have the capability to demystify complex topics. Cosmos did this for science, and was entertaining and relaxing to watch.

I have watched ever documentary on innovation, and there are quite a few good ones out there. I have watched a lot of documentaries on economics, and there are not that many that are super entertaining for the general audience.

What is lacking is a documentary series that walks through the last 250 years and tracks innovation, politics, law, and economics and creates a cohesive narrative that would both entertain and educate people to this complex series of interwoven topics.

So, if I could do something that could not fail, I would bring together the best writers and thinkers on these topics, and they engage Jon Favreau (or someone similar) to help produce and direct a 13 part…